Looking for some geography research hints for a novel

[WTG]

Hi

 

I appreciate this may not be the best place to come for advice, but I'm not sure where else to turn, and right now I'd like to find some direction.I'm doing some research for my first novel at the moment. It's a low-fantasy book, with an iron-age type setting, roughly equivalent to the early dark ages. The major twist is that it's actually set in a future Europe, approximately 500,000 years in the future after modern civilization has fallen. The world is in the middle of a minor ice age (I'm basing the world on the Younger Dryas period), so Europe is mostly dominated with steppe environments.

 

There are more mystical parts of my novel, but for the vast majority of it, I am aiming to be as scientifically plausible as possible, especially when it comes to the setting. I'm a palaeontologist by career and I have a strong interest in iron age history as a hobby, so I'm able to expand a lot in these fields, but I'd like more information about rivers, mountains and other landforms (and if anyone knows where mineral resources used by ancient civilizations in Europe/Middle East came from, that'd be great too). I could BS a lot in the novel, but I'd rather not, especially when it comes to placing the cities (of the late Roman-style empire) in the south of the continent, as for my story my protagonists will be spending a lot of time there.

 

I know it's a great deal to ask, but would anyone with a strong knowledge of landforms or geomorphology be able to check the scientific validity of maps I produce, or can anyone point me to a specialist forum or expert who could help? I don't have anything to offer in return, other than thanks from me and a big acknowledgement in the novel if/when it's published.

 

Thanks!